HP's ProCurve division and Microsoft have developed a way for software products from both companies to work together to produce what they claim is a complete system for managing security.

The ProCurve Identity Driven Manager (IDM) is a management system that helps IT managers to set and manage security policies across their networks. Microsoft's Network Access Protection is a system for controlling and understanding who uses a network at any particular time and then enforce corporate policies.

By linking the two systems together, the companies believe they can produce an all-round secure environment for companies to operate in. "We are taking advantage of the synergies between these two companies," said Kevin Porter, global security solutions manager for ProCurve. His company prefers a strategy of moving network control away from the centre of the network, which goes against the thinking of many companies that believe control should be centralised.

"Control should come from what we call 'the intelligent edge', which is the best place to do it [manage the network] rather than waiting for it to come to the centre," said Porter.

The HP ProCurve IDM costs £5,400 for the first 500 users, and a further 2,000 users can be added for £1,200. Pricing for Microsoft's Network Access Protection was not available at the time of writing.